AIRSHOW CRASH: ‘Avoid knee-jerk reactions’ urges MP

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Published:13:51Sunday 23 August 2015

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EAST Worthing and Shoreham MP Tim Loughton has urged the community to avoid knee-jerk reactions following yesterday’s tragedy.

Mr Loughton, who had driven along the A27 only minutes before the crash happened, attended this morning’s special service at St Mary de Haura Church in Shoreham.

DM156869a East Worthing and Shoreham MP Tim Loughton at the service at St Mary de Haura Church in Shoreham

He talked of the ‘magnitude and great disaster of what has happened to our great community’ and said his thoughts were with the families involved.

“This is a horrible, horrible tragedy. There is a very sombre mood about the community that something this tragic could happen in what is a happy, thrilling event that many people have come to for 26 years.

“This is a family day out. Thousands of people came here for a fun day. It ended in this horrible, tragic way.”

He said it was important to wait to find out exactly how the accident had happened before making any decisions about the future of Shoreham Airshow.

“Clearly a lot of work goes into making sure that the safety of everybody involved in this airshow, everybody visiting this airshow, everybody passing this airshow, is the major consideration,” he said.

“This is a working airport as well. Every day planes fly in and out. They have done for the last 104 years. This is a tragic accident and I think what we shouldn’t do is very knee-jerk reactions to ‘should we be banning all airshows’.

“Clearly we must learn the lessons when we know what those lessons are but the most important thing now is that our hearts and prayers are with the families of those coming to terms with the tragic events of yesterday.”

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